Condenser



July 26, 1932' P. A. BANCEL CONDENSER Filed May 31. 1930 INVENTOR;

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Patented July 26, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PAUL A. BANGEL, OF MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO INGERSOLL-RAND COM 4,

PANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY CONDENSER Application filed may 31, 1930. Serial No. 457,962.

My invention concerns improvements in surface condensers and more particularly a condenser in which are embodied means to reduce the amount of air carried through. the cooling tubes by the cooling water.

Among the numerous conditions which affect the efficient operation of surface con densers is the quantity of air which is permitted to be carried in the water in the cooling tubes. Air has a highly deleterious corrosive action on the interior of the tubes and greatly shortens their effective life. In addition to the corrosive action, the presence of any considerable quantity of air in the cooling water serves to reduce the volume of liquid in the tubes and thus impair their cooling capacity.

Air is found either in solution or suspension in practically all water and the effect of turbulence in the water is to release some of the imprisoned air. Thus the act of pumping water into a condenser is conducive to the release of airt-herein. Where the condenser is installed on shipboard andthe water taken must be drawn through the skin of the vessel a large amount of how water which often contains as high as 10% of air is taken up by the pumps. Such large quantities of air in the water make it frothy and it be,- comes imperative to provide means for removing the froth before the water enters the cooling tubes.

The object of my invention is to provide means for drawing 0d the greater part of the air from the water before it enters the condenser tubes. Other objects are to provide a condenser 1n Wl11Cl1 a comparatively uniform distribution of steam throughout the condenser shell is facilitated. Other objects are either apparent or will be hereinafter referred to.

In the drawing in which similar reference characters refer to similar parts Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section- 21 elevation of a single pass, two compartment surface condenser with provision for reversed flow of the cooling water, in which my invention has been incorporated Figure 2 is a similar view of a double pass condenser embodying the invention, and

Figure 3 shows a cross sectional elevation taken through the water box of a. condenser which illustrates a different application of the invention.

The drawing shows a steam inlet 1 which opens into a tube nest 2 enclosed in the shell 3 and provided with a condensate outlet 4. A number of water tubes 5 are mounted in tube sheets 6 located at either end of the shell 3. These connect water boxes 7 and 7 at each end of the condenser shell. Tube support sheets, not shown, may be placed intermediate the water boxes if desired.

It is in the water boxes that the departure from conventional design will be noted. In Figure 1, the preferred form of the invention, each water box is divided into upper and lower compartments by decks 8 and 8' and in eachlcompartment is an inlet or outlet nozzle. The left lower. compartment 9 is an inlet compartment and is furnished withan inlet water nozzle 10. The adjacent left upper compartment is an outlet chamber 11 equipped with a discharge water nozzle 12. The deck 8 separating these compartments has perforations 13 leading from one compartment to the other.

In the right hand water box 7 the functions of the water chambers are reversed and there the upper chamber 14; is an inlet chamber supplied with a water inlet nozzle'15 and the lower chamber 16 is an outlet chamber supplied with a discharge water nozzle 17. The perforations 18 in the deck 8 are fitted with vertical tubes 18 leading nearly to the top of the inlet chamber 14.

The arrangement of an inlet and an outlet water box at each end of the condenser with tubes carrying water in reverse, directions has the effect of averaging the temperature of the tubes in. any given section of the condenser. It must be understood that this statement is made in a purely relative sense and in comparison with other single pass condensers of conventional design, but it will be apparent that there is no hot end and nocold end to the condenser as one-half of the tubes will be hot and one-half of the tubes will be cold at each end of the condenser, whereas all of the tubes will be of substantially the ion same temperature in the middle of the condenser. This relative equalization of the temperatures in the cooling tubes will assist the steam to penetrate substantially uniformly throughout the entire condenser.

In operation a condenser pump (not shown) forces water through the inlet nozzles 10 and 15 into the inlet chambers 9 and 1 1, thence through the tubes to the outlet chambers 11 and 16 respectively and thence through the discharge nozzles. The froth in the water being of low specific gravity rises to the top of the inlet chambers. When it reaches the top of the inlet chamber 9 the suction of the flow in the adjoining chamber 11 causes it to be drawn off through the perforations 13 in the deck 8 into the discharge chamber 11 and it is carried by the discharge water out through the discharge nozzle 12-.

On the right hand side of the condenser the air which comes in througl'i the inlet nozzle 15 rises to the top of the chamber 1 1 whence it is drawn down through the tubes 18 to the discharge chamber 16 and thence through the discharge nozzle 17. The suction created by the flow of the water through the discharge nozzles 12 and 17 is sufiicient to draw off the froth from the inlet chambers through the means provided.

Figure 2 shows a modification of the invention in which a double pass condenser is used and only one of the water boxes is divided. The operation of this variant should be clear from the explanation already given of the operation of Figure 1.

In Figure 3 a vertical partition 8 is shown dividing the water box into two compart ments. The partition has an aperture at its upper end to provide for air passing over from the inlet to the outlet chamber.

By this simple and economical device I accomplish the objects hereinbefore set forth.

I claim:

1. In a surface condenser, a condenser shell having a steam inlet and a condensate outlet, water boxes at each end of said shell, water tubes in the shell connecting the water boxes, a partition in one water box dividing it into an upper inlet chamber and a lower outlet chamber, and tubes leading from the upper portion of the inlet chamber through the partition to the upper portion of the outlet chamber whereby air may be drawn from the inlet chamber to the outlet chamber.

2. In a surface condenser, a condenser shell having a steam inlet and a condensate outlet, water boxes at each end of said shell having inlet and outlet chambers, water tubes connecting the inlet chamber at one end of the condenser to the outlet chamber at the other end of the condenser, and means to convey air from the inlet chamber to the adjoining outlet chamber, such air being conveyed from the outlet chambers by the discharge water flowing therefrom.

8. In a surface condenser, a condenser shell having a steam inlet and a condensate outlet, water boxes at each end of said shell, partitions dividing said water boxes into inlet and outlet chambers, water tubes connecting the inlet chamber at one end of the condenser to the outlet chamber at the other end of the condenser, and passages in the water boxes to permit air to pass from the inlet chamber to the adjacent outlet chamber and to be conveyed therefrom by the discharge water flowing from the outlet chamber.

4c. In a surface condenser, a condenser shell having a steam inlet and a condensate outlet, water boxes at each end of said shell, water tubes in the shell connecting the water boxes, partitions in said water boxes dividing them into upper and lower chambers, the upper chamber at one end of the condenser being an inlet chamber and the lower chamber at the same end of the condenser being an outlet chamber whereas the upper chamber at the opposite end of the condenser is an outlet chamber and a lower chamber at that end is an inlet chamber, and means in the water boxes to convey air from the inlet chamber to the adjoining outlet chamber to be conveyed from the outlet chambers by the discharge water flowing therefrom.

5. In a surface condenser, a condenser shell having a steam inlet and a condensate outlet, water boxes at each end of said shell, water tubes in the shell connecting the water boxes, a perforated pa rtition in one water box dividin g it into a lower inlet chamber and an upper outlet chamber, a partition in the other water box dividing it into a lower outlet chamber and an upper inlet chamber, and tubes leading from the upper side of the upper inlet chamber to the upper side of the lower outlet chamber.

6. In a surface condenser, a condenser shell having a steam inlet and a condensate outlet, water boxes at each end of said shell, water tubes in the shell connecting the water boxes, a vertical longitudinal partition in one water box dividing it into inlet and outlet chambers, said partition having a passage at its upper end for conveying air from the inlet to the outlet chamber to be removed from the outlet chamber by the discharge water flowing therefrom.

In testimony whereof I have signed this i specification.

PAUL A. BANCEL. 

